Attitude Taxis: At your service

Hobart is home to two of the most distinctive taxis in Australia, run as a team effort by Craig Johnston and Merv Howearth. The name came from a comment made by a regular customer to one of them a few years ago: ‘you’ve got the right attitude, mate.’

The name struck a chord when the two men, then working for a big taxi firm in Hobart, decided to go it alone and started looking for identical vehicles.

If not engaged on a longer tour, Craig and Merv drive at the usual metred taxi rates, with airport transfers a speciality — or you will be given a firm rate (based on the usual charge) for the specific destination if you prefer. They offer hourly rates as well.

Off-duty here are two typical Aussie blokes, full of good humour, quick quips and some entertaining stories.

Merv Howearth is a Kiwi by birth, and an Aussie by conviction. He trained as an explosives expert in the NZ army, which stood him in good stead for mining and construction jobs that took him all over the world from SE Asia to Ecuador, Hawaii to New Guinea.

In Central Queensland he met an Franklin-born girl and they married. Merv found a job on Tasmania’s West Coast, where they spent the next 10 years. When the family moved to Hobart, Merv entered the taxi industry, which is where he became mates with Craig Johnston.

A Hobart boy born and bred, Craig did his apprenticeship as a radiator fitter, specialising in heavy machinery. In 1996 he won Tasmania’s inaugural Gun Radiator Fitter award (“I had to fit a Holden with two tanks and three fittings — I was fastest and most importantly, it didn’t leak!”). Later that year he went on to be second in the national championships.

A mid-life career change took Craig into cab driving. He decided to buy his own car, setting his heart on a top-of-the-range Ford Fairlane Ghia. Merv was so impressed he bought his own and so their partnership began.

Tour options

If you take an Attitude Taxi for a half-day or full-day tour, the taxi sign is removed from the top. Half-day and full-day tours go where you, the client, wants to go.

However, if you prefer Attitude Taxis can also offer specialised tours.

These include wine tastings in the vineyards, a day trip to Port Arthur or other outlying destinations, maybe city sightseeing that takes in Mount Wellington and the Signal station or just cruising around looking at Hobart’s wealth of charming old houses clustered in Battery Point, Sandy Bay and New Town. It’s up to you.

Also available for weddings, special occasions, corporate and vip transfers.